5 Signs It May Be Time to Start Paying Attention to the Accounting Talent Market
Most accounting firms don’t spend much time thinking about recruiting when they aren’t actively hiring. That makes sense. There are clients to serve, teams to manage and plenty of other things competing for your attention. So, when do you need to pay attention to the accounting talent market?
At Accountingfly, we spend our days talking with accounting professionals who are considering their next move, which gives us a slightly different view. Often, we see the signs of a future staffing need well before there’s an actual opening. Here are five that may be worth paying attention to.
1. Your most experienced people are doing work someone else could handle
Every partner and manager steps in when needed. But when experienced people regularly find themselves doing work that could reasonably be handled by a senior or staff accountant, it may be worth looking at where their time is going.
The work is getting done, but there’s an opportunity cost. Time spent on work that could be delegated isn’t available for client relationships, developing the team, bringing in new business or the higher-level work that really requires their experience.
2. Your team is managing today’s workload, but there’s not much room for anything else
A busy team isn’t necessarily an understaffed team. What may be more telling is how much capacity you have when something changes.
A new client comes on board, someone takes leave, a project becomes more complicated than expected or a strong employee decides to move on. If any one of those would create an immediate staffing problem, it may be useful to understand your options before you actually need them.
3. Staffing is beginning to influence the business you pursue
We’ve talked with firms that see an opportunity to grow but aren’t sure they have the people to support it. Sometimes turning down business is absolutely the right decision. But if you’d like to say yes and staffing is the primary thing holding you back, recruiting has become part of the growth conversation.
That’s a much easier conversation to have when there’s time to explore the market, understand compensation expectations and see what kind of experienced talent is available.
4. There are one or two people you really can’t imagine losing
Most firms have people who seem to know everything: the clients, the systems, the history and how to get things done. Hopefully, they’re with you for years to come.
But one thing we see from the recruiting side is that good accounting professionals hear about opportunities regularly, even when they aren’t actively looking. That doesn’t mean you should recruit a backup “just in case.” It does mean there’s value in knowing what the talent market looks like before an unexpected departure forces you to find out quickly.
5. You only look at accounting talent when you have a position to fill
There’s nothing wrong with beginning a search when there’s an opening. That’s how recruiting has traditionally worked.
But you don’t need an open position to understand who’s in the market, what experienced Tax, Audit, CAS and Senior Accounting professionals are looking for, or where compensation expectations are moving. Staying aware gives you information without requiring you to make a hiring decision.
Sometimes it’s simply worth knowing who’s out there
Recognizing your firm in one or two of these examples doesn’t mean it’s time to hire. It may simply mean it’s worth paying attention.
That’s really the idea behind Accountingfly’s Always-On approach. You can stay connected to the talent market before there’s an urgent need, so if the right person comes along or the need does arise, you have a better sense of your options and aren’t starting from scratch.
